Heartbreak

Let me start by introducing to you Solomon. He's the boy (probably about our age) who cleans the office and the home of Albert, a prominent NAR board member, and cooks us lunch every single day. He cooks meals that, from the looks of them, I would probably not eat back at home because of my pickiness, but they always taste amazing. He's a sweetheart who is always smiling and is trying to learn English and uses phrases like "one people" and "much moneys." He took us to the market to show us where to buy "special powder," the spice he always cooks with that we still don't have a real name for, and helped me to negotiate the price and design of the dress that I had made. He comes from a rural area near the border of Uganda, his father is dead and he supports his mother and sister off of the $1 a day that he makes here (from what we could gather). Since we met him we've tried to think of ways that we could possibly help him out and say thank you for how helpful he's been. We want to see him succeed.

Before we left work yesterday, he came into our office and told us that he would be gone for the rest of the week, because there was an accident at his home and his cow was dead and he has to go take care of some problems. Mike and I got soo upset. Cows are a sign of wealth here, and this was probably the only one that he owned and now it's gone. We talked to Julius, a NAR employee, to ask him for more details, and what it sounds like is that there was a terrible storm that knocked a tree into Solomon's home, ruining the house and killing the cow. In addition, there has been a push by the Rwandan government to "beautify" the countryside- i.e. tear down the not-as-pretty houses of the poor people. Solomon's is one of those homes.

The whole situation just breaks my heart and I want to help and I don't even know how :(